The governor said that Trump has taken a harder stance on Putin since the poisoning of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Britain last month and the West has come together to oppose Russia.

Experts agree that Russia was behind the poison attack, a claim the Kremlin has denied.

“There have been sanctions, there probably could be more sanctions, but the fact is that the French, the Germans, the Brits, the Americans, we’re all now beginning to say that Putin is a thug and that we need to be able to push back on him,” Kasich said.